Most car parks if they provide any barrier to entry or exit provide a boom gate at the entry and exit points to the car park. This offers some security but is not sufficient to deter car theft in many instances. Individual restraints For car parking spaces have been used where a steel tube barrier is folded down to allow the vehicle to be parked and is lockable in an upright position when the car is parked or the space is being reserved. These restraints are manually operated and fixed in their position.
Remotely actuated vehicle barriers have been proposed for roadways and parking spaces but, as exemplified by GB patent 2282838 and German patent 4307045, these only move the barrier from one fixed non barrier position to a second fixed barrier position.
Although car parking spaces are generally of uniform dimensions, cars are not. Usually there is no restraint on any side of a car space or in some cases at the end of the space. Costs dictate that an ideal barrier system will provide a barrier at the two longitudinal ends of the space which is what most proposals have done. However these restraints are not sufficient to prevent cars of short body length from being maneuvered past the barrier. The only suggestion made to address this problem has been to PROVIDE side restraints to individual car spaces, which is expensive as well as inhibiting driver and passenger access to the vehicle.
It is an object of this invention to provide a cost effective secure car parking space which overcomes the above problems.